It’s a wierd week. Unusual and surprisingly acquainted. You keep on the identical lodge in an almost similar room to the one you stayed in for the final 10 years or so. You see pals and colleagues you’ve not seen shortly. Everyone seems to be three years older and a bit worse for put on. A world pandemic will do this to an individual.
Final yr was imagined to be your triumphant return to the present, after two years away. However you bought chilly ft when the omicron numbers began spiking across the holidays. The following vacation journey, coupled with exhibitors flying in from all around the world, was adequate trigger for concern. And also you had been removed from alone. Attendance numbers — which had hit 170,000 in 2020 — had been right down to ~40,000, representing a 75% drop in attendance.
The yr between — 2021 — there was no in-person CES in any respect. The CTA, which places on the occasion, finally made the fitting choice and went all-virtual for the primary time in its historical past. That was its personal sort of mess. The infrastructure easy wasn’t in place for an occasion this measurement and scope. One additionally suspects that the CTA would reasonably not let folks get too used to protecting exhibits like this just about, for concern that they’d deem it pointless to return.
However the world has slowly gotten again to regular, and so, too, has CES. It’s a bit like returning to your old fashioned just a few years after graduating. There are some acquainted faces and a few new ones. For higher or worse, life went on with out you. Hell, the college even constructed an enormous, new wing. On this case, it’s the shiny West Corridor of the Las Vegas Conference Heart. With the South Corridor kind of shuttered for the occasion, the rising military of mobility corporations have since migrated right here. Sooner or later once we weren’t wanting, CES turned a automobile present.
That’s due, partially, to timing — each considered one of CES’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Power, within the sense that it’s the primary present of the yr. Weak point as a result of who actually needs to be considering (stressing) in regards to the massive present over vacation dinners or sitting on a airplane January 2?
Within the weeks main as much as the occasion, the CTA introduced that it was anticipating 100,000 folks on the occasion. That’s nowhere close to pre-pandemic ranges, however it definitely represents a good bounceback for a stay occasion. After the mud cleared, it revised that quantity upward to 115,000. Talking purely anecdotally, it didn’t really feel that top, however emotions are definitely no substitute for official attendance numbers.
I’ll say, there have been spots (massive chunks of Central Corridor, for instance) that felt as crowded as any yr prior. Definitely I felt it making an attempt to get lunch within the cafeteria on day one. Different spots, like North Corridor, appeared largely empty the handful of occasions I went again. I’m undecided that bodes notably nicely for the focus of robotics corporations there. I most likely jumped the gun with my “Shopper Robotics Present” headline, even when it was achieved with tongue semi-planted in cheek.
Most, if not all, of the media retailers I spoke to despatched fewer folks than 2020 for quite a lot of causes. First, we’ve all tailored to distant protection. Second, loads of individuals are nonetheless (rightfully) fearful a couple of pandemic. Seems it hasn’t really gone away, regardless of our greatest efforts to fake in any other case. Third, journalism is getting crushed but once more by the financial downturn. Budgets are tightening and many retailers merely have fewer reporters.
The complete identify is The Worldwide CES, for apparent causes. One may make a reasonably credible case that CES 2020 was one of many first main COVID-19 superspreader occasions. There are, nonetheless, nonetheless journey restrictions in place. Most notable is China. A day after the present formally ended, The Wall Avenue Journal ran the headline, “China Reopens to the World as Worldwide Journey Restrictions Finish.” China is clearly an enormous participant on the scene, and restrictions are invariably going to harm your backside line. Loads of locations had been nicely represented on the present, together with Korea and France.
I mentioned this a bit within the preview put up, however it’s value mentioning once more. The CTA may be very insistent we name it “CES,” and never the “Shopper Electronics Present.” Pedantic? Positive. Telling? Completely. The group needs CES to be extra issues to extra folks. That features automobiles, robots and loads of software program/apps. There are methods wherein the occasion continues to be very a lot tied to custom, however its organizers have additionally achieved a fantastic job adapting its scope.
Measurement, too. CES is sprawling. It takes over town — or least the world surrounding the Strip — and typically seems like a brief metropolis unto itself. Like every city space, it has its pockets of focus and its share of site visitors jams. If you realize what’s good for you, you received’t try to catch a automobile outdoors of the Venetian Expo (RIP, The Sands) round 6 PM. You must also know that you just’ll want a 20- to 30-minute buffer, no matter your mode of transportation, as much as and together with Tesla Small World tunnel.
For the primary time in 11 (!) years, the Grownup Leisure Expo coincided with CES and took the AVN Present (the porn Oscars, if you’ll) together with it. A enjoyable little bit of trivia: The entire thing is definitely an outgrowth of a CES grownup software program part that existed within the ’80s and ’90s. I remorse not having the time to take a look at the occasion and all its idiosyncratic tech this yr. We did, nonetheless, get dinner at an incredible vegan restaurant within the new Resorts World tower our last evening, and managed to come across a few of that present’s overflow. They’re a enjoyable bunch.
Probably the most optimistic modifications to the present lately is its shift in focus to startup tradition. There’s little query that the 2 flooring of Eureka Park are far and away essentially the most vibrant part. The cubicles and aisles are far smaller and extra tightly packed collectively. Not every little thing you’ll see in there’s a winner, however the folks displaying it to you venture a sort of real pleasure you not often see with the larger corporations. I might have liked to have spent extra time there, however it simply didn’t work out that means for me this yr.
The development over the past a number of years is massive corporations opting to announce new stuff on their very own levels and time. The transfer to digital presses over the past a number of years has solely accelerated this. However as the large corporations transfer away from the present, bright-eyed startups are very happy to fill that void.
As I discussed in a earlier put up, this was the yr of placing stuff on my face. I attempted out the Magic Leap 2, Meta Quest Professional, Vive XR Elite, PSVR2 and Dyson Bane masks. VR/AR/XR as soon as once more reigned supreme. How that manifests itself within the broader shopper world, then again, is one other query solely. It’s, nonetheless, fairly telling that everybody however Sony and its pure gaming headset want to enterprise. It’s easy the place the cash is correct now, a minimum of till the costs considerably come down for high quality headsets.
One other theme I discovered in speaking to people in that world is a genuinely keen feeling round Apple’s headset play. The consensus with these corporations seems to be that the rising tide will raise all ships right here, as the corporate reinvigorates the scene. Fact of the matter is that it’s been the “subsequent factor” for therefore lengthy there’s a real fatique right here.
Ditto for crypto/web3, albeit for solely completely different causes. There’s been a gradual drumbeat of unhealthy information for the class and most of the people who would have in any other case been shouting their message from the rooftops are at the moment licking their wounds. I’ve not been shy as regards to my emotions across the know-how, and it was frankly a aid to not be bombarded by these pitches this yr.
Little question my inbox will probably be filled with them this time subsequent yr.
TechCrunch employees has spent the final a number of days constructing their Scorching or Not lists, so I’ll embrace these right here:
Among the shine has worn off round sensible residence tech. It’s exhausting to not see that mirrored in Amazon Echo’s struggles. On the very least, it’s clear that issues didn’t go precisely as deliberate for a lot of corporations. It’s, nonetheless, fairly heartening to see a sort of unified entrance within the type of the Matter Alliance.
Well being tech, in the meantime, stays a going concern, be it residence health or wearables. We’ve seen a widespread push to get a few of these merchandise taken extra significantly as medical units, and that was very a lot on show right here. In the meantime, it was a real bummer to see what occurred to Mojo Imaginative and prescient, after protecting them for therefore many CESes.
Economics loomed massive, after all. General, the discharge cadence of recent merchandise appears to have slowed for the business. The tip of 2022 didn’t see the identical kind of rush of recent merchandise we normally get earlier than the vacation. The explanations are clear. For one factor, cash is tight and inflation is excessive, so individuals are spending much less on non-necessities. For an additional, provide chain constraints are having a tangible impact on the business’s means to ship.
Forward of the present, I requested Sony what they deliberate to indicate off. For the primary time I can recall, I acquired an official assertion from a rep telling me what the corporate isn’t displaying. “Sony is not going to be sharing any TV particulars throughout CES 2023,” a spokesperson informed me. “Nonetheless, please keep tuned for an upcoming announcement coming quickly.” That’s a brand new one. The corporate did have film trailers, although.
I received’t say this felt like a transitional yr — solely as a result of that may be mentioned about just about each CES from the previous decade. I additionally acknowledge that it’s notice solely truthful to guage it by its first full-fledge present in three years. It was unusual, and there was zero likelihood it was going to be something however. For the CTA’s sake, attendance exceeding what appeared like optimistic expectations is a genuinely good signal. As for us, I’m sure we’re not alone in rethinking how we deal with CES going ahead.
